Blast door seal



Jan. 29, 1963 M. o. JACOBSON ETAL 3,075,254

BLAST DOOR SEAL Filed April 27, 1961 FIG. 4

INVENTORS MELVIN a. .mcolsrso/v PALMER a WERMA6ER,' I WQ BY M W W 2 ZATTORNEYS AGENT ear/ease BLAST 506R EAL Melvin 6. Ziacobson, Qoon Rapids, and Palmer G. Wernr This invention relates generally to closures, and more particularly it pertains to a seal strip arrangement for sealing the edges and abutments of doors.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a leak-proof seal for doors which are exposed to explosive blast.

Another object of this invention is to provide a seal strip which automaticall adjusts its closure to the outside pressure.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a rear elevation of a blast door of its surrounding frame;

FZG. 2 is a vertical section drawing taken along the line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a detailed cross section, much enlarged, taken along line 33 of FIG. 1; and

HG. 4, is a detail cross section similar to FIG. 3 taken along the line 44 of l.

In accordance with the invention in one of its aspects, there is provided a pair of heavy steel blast doors 14 set into a frame 22 of a sloping declthouse bulkhead It as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. These blast doors 14 are utilized in connection with guided missile launching systems, for passing missile-booster combinations from the declthouse to a launcher which receives and launches the missile-booster combinations. After the missile-booster combinations have been passed through the opened blast doors id, the doors are then closed and are used to protect and shield missile-booster combinations and person nel in the declihouse from the liberated exhaust gases from the booster when a missile-booster combination is launched into space from the launcher located outside of the declzhouse.

As shown best in FEGS. 1 and 2, the blast doors 14 are arranged to be opened on spaced side hinges 16. When the blast doors 14- are closed they overlap the frame 12 and join together in abutting relationship as will be related.

Following the inside faces of the edges of the blast doors 1 which mate with the door frame 12, a sealing arrangement designated generally by reference numeral is, is provided as best shown in FIG. 4. The same sealing arrangement 18 is located at the junction of the blast doors id as illustrated in FIG. 3.

The sealing arrangement 15; consists of structure having opposing grooves 26 and 28 in the door-to-door juncture or door-to-frarne juncture as the case may be. The groove 2% contains a sealing strip 22. of resilient material such as rubber of U-shaped cross-section with an inside liner strip or spring 24 of metal. The spring 24 in addition to providing an outwardly expanding force to the strip 22 also defines in cross-section a J-shaped expansion chamber 26 therein.

A bufier strip 39 of rubber is secured within the opposite groove 23 and it contacts the side of sealing strip 22 when the doors is are closed. The strip 22 is positioned within the groove it so that the chamber 26 opens outwardly with respect to the outside of the door 14 or the uncovered periphery of the frame 12. Contiguous and a portion mating 3,b75,25d Patented Jan. 2%, 1953 t; hoe

to this open side of the chamber 26, the groove 20 is flared for a passageway 36 which communicates with the peripheral door-to-door or door-to-frame interface and thence to the outside atmosphere.

Thus, any fluid leakage through this interface from the outside such as from the battering of sea waves or the force of gases from a rocket blast is channeled through the passageway 36 to the chamber 26 to there expand and add pressure to the urging of spring 24 against the strips 22 and 3%). Consequently, the interface pressure and seal of sealing strip 22 with strip 30 is proportioned to the leakage of fluid from the outside which in the case of rocket blast may reach great magnitude.

The vertical joint or abutment of the doors 14 is pref erably bafiied with a tongue 32 on one door 1d and a groove 34 on the other door 14 on the blast or outer side of the sealing arrangement 18 as illustrated in FIG. 3.

in lieu of this baffle tongue and groove 32 and 34 the seals 18 for the door frames 12 are preferably provided with a supplemental expansion chamber 38. As shown in FIG. 4, this chamber 38 is on the exterior side of the seal 18 and is cut partly in the door 14 and partly in the frame 12. The supplemental expansion chamber 38 functions by absorbing and peripherally distributing localized pressure peaks from the blast gasses uniformally to the seal l8.

Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed is:

l. A door seal for sealing the crack between a door and a door frame comprising a door and a frame meet ing in face to face relationship, a first groove along the edges of the frame that contacts said door, a first strip of resilient material placed in said first groove, a substantially tJ-shaped channel cut longitudinally along the resilient material, a second groove along the edge of the door opposite said first groove in said frame, and a second strip of resilient material placed in the second groove and cont-acting said first strip whereby any leakage between the door and the frame spreads the U-shaped channel to increase the contact between the two resilient strips.

2. A door seal as set forth in claim 1 and further comprising a U-shaped spring positioned within the U-shaped channel, said spring spreading said channel to force said first strip into sealing engagement with said second strip.

3. A door seal for sealing the crack between a door and a door frame comprising a door and a frame meeting in face to face relationship, a first groove along the edges of the frame that contacts said door, a first strip of resilient material placed in the groove, a substantially U- shaped channel cut longitudinally along the resilient material, a narrow passage joining the U-shaped channel and the crack between the door and frame, a second groove along the edge of the door opposite said first groove in said frame, and a second strip of resilient material placed in the second groove whereby any leakage between the door and the frame moves along the narrow passage into the U-shaped channel spreading the channel to increase the contact between the resilient strips.

4. The seal of claim 3 further comprising a spring positioned in the channel to aid in spreading the channel to force said first strip into sealing engagement with said second strip.

5. A door seal as described in claim 4 wherein there is further provided a supplemental expansion chamber cut into the door and the frame transverse to the crack a between said door and frame,'said chamberpositioned between extremities of the crack.

6. A door seal for sealing the crack between the abutting edges of a first and second door comprising a first groove along the abutting edge of the first door, a first strip of resilient material located within said first groove, a siightly larger second groove along the abutting edge of the second door opposite said first groove, a second strip of resilient material in the second groove so that it will contact the resilient material in the first groove when the two doors are in abutting relationship, a larger "wedge-shaped grooves-long the edge of the first door, a wedge-shaped tongue along the edge of the second door to mate withthe wedge-shaped groove when the doors are in abutting relationship, a substantially U-shaped channel extending longitudinally along the center of the resilient --rnaterial in the second door, and a narrow passage joining the U-shaped channel and the wedgeshaped groove, said U-shaped channel having its open end opening in a direction parallel to the crack between the doors, so that fluid leakage is modulated by the Wedge- 4 shaped tongue and groove and enters said U-shaped channel to spread said U-sha-ped channel forcing said strips into sealing engagement.

7. A door seal as described in claim 6 wherein there is further provided a spring positioned within the U- shaped channel to aid in spreading the channel to force said second strip into sealing engagement with said first strip.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,873,247 Abbott et a1 Aug. 23, 1932 2,746,103 Bright May 22, 1956 2,825,940 Kurtz Mal. 11, 1958 2,912,727 Sehn Nov. 17, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 932,452 Germany. Sept. 1, 1955 1,178,057 France Dec. 8, 1958 608,092 Canada Nov. 8, 1960 

1. A DOOR SEAL FOR SEALING THE CRACK BETWEEN A DOOR AND A DOOR FRAME COMPRISING A DOOR AND A FRAME MEETING IN FACE TO FACE RELATIONSHIP, A FIRST GROOVE ALONG THE EDGES OF THE FRAME THAT CONTACTS SAID DOOR, A FIRST STRIP OF RESILIENT MATERIAL PLACED IN SAID FIRST GROOVE, A SUBSTANTIALLY U-SHAPED CHANNEL CUT LONGITUDINALLY ALONG THE RESILIENT MATERIAL A SECOND GROOVE ALONG THE EDGE OF THE DOOR OPPOSITE SAID FIRST GROOVE IN SAID FRAME, AND A SECOND STRIP OF RESILIENT MATERIAL PLACED IN THE SECOND GROOVE AND CONTACTING SAID FIRST STRIP WHEREBY ANY LEAKAGE BETWEEN THE DOOR AND THE FRAME SPREADS THE U-SHAPED CHANNEL TO INCREASE THE CONTACT BETWEEN THE TWO RESILIENT STRIPS. 